OK, so this is going to be a long image, and after it you’ll find some analysis on it. This is a 2012 census on US data only, so you can expect some differences if you live in other parts of the globe. Here goes:

The first thing which pops to the eye is that the stereotypes pretty much check out. At the end of the spectrum with most women you have kindergarten and school teachers, nurses, social workers, librarians and mostly other social-focused jobs, while at the other end, you get many physical jobs (construction workers, miners, masons, mechanical engineers and so on). What surprised me the most is the fact that mathematician was basically at the center, with 51-49. This is where the stereotype has it most wrong.

There is also another interesting point to be made. In general, women jobs are OK – nothing exceptionally good or bad, while male dominated jobs tend to be extremes, either really good, or really bad. This seems to confirm a 2006 study which concluded that while men and women are on average the same intelligence, men are on wider extremes of the spectrum. In other words, you’d expect to find more mentally deficient, but also more over-performing men.

What do you think about this – is it relevant, or is it a meaningless statistic? Does it show we have to change the status quo, or are things the way they should be? What’s your insight?

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